Amtrak makes funding appeal to Senate

Amtrak’s Chairman of the Board David Laney and President David Hughes described the railroad's funding needs for Fiscal Year 2007 at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this week.

Amtrak is lowering its requested level of operating support for FY07 by $42 million to $498 million, compared to this year's operating support request of $540 million.

Amtrak is also proposing an increase in the funding of capital projects by $235 million, from $495 million presently to $730 million.

“This year and next are truly pivotal years for Amtrak in its implementation of strategic reform — and we are aggressively ushering in change at Amtrak,” said Laney.

The proposal for federal support totals $1.598 billion.